W
Scott Lincoln
Environmental Scientist, Cartographer
Ames, IA
wm.scott.lincoln@gmail.com
Born and raised in Iowa, I quickly became accustomed to some of the most intense weather mother nature had to throw at us. As a child I was afraid of the weather, but by high school I had gained an appreciation that has since turned into a lifetime hobby and future career.
After seeing my first tornado on a family outing in 2000, I gained an undying fascination for weather and how it works. Weather occurs everyday and drives our lives, yet sometimes it seems like we know so little about it. Through research and education, I hope to be able to figure out one more piece of the puzzle that weather has given to us.
I originally came to Iowa State University to study meteorology. After two and a half years, I concluded that the program was not for me, even though I knew that something weather-related was what I was made to do. After some some investigations into the environmental science program, I switched my major and kept meteorology as a minor. The more open nature of the program proved to be a much better fit for me, allowing me to explore an interest in research I had never before thought of doing.
Two semesters of independent research during my senior year opened my eyes to the research world and I soon investigated graduate school possibilities. I was accepted to the environmental science graduate program for the fall 2007 term where my emphasis was hydrological modeling. My research involved modeling small-scale watersheds that are not handled well by current modeling techniques. Using smaller time steps and a physically-based model, I tried able to catch flash floods on some of the important smaller streams important to the area. I completed my research and associated thesis during the summer 2009 semester. As part of my graduate assistantship I also was a teaching assistant for EnSci 402 (Watershed Hydrology) and Geol 100L (Intro to Geology Lab).